Low Wage Report 2014

Public Interest Alberta, with the support of the Alberta College of Social Workers, has released the latest data on low-wage earners in Alberta from Statistics Canada. Click here to read our intepretation of the data we released on Labour Day in 2014.

Alberta-wide Statistics

More than one out of every five workers earns less than $15/hour

There are 383,900 Albertans earning less than $15/hour out of a total of 1,870,100 employed Albertans (20.5%).

There are 431,500 Albertans earning less than $16/hour (23%).

There are 42,200 people earning between $9.95 and $10.20.

The majority of low-wage workers are women

234,400 low-wage workers are women (61%)

Most low-wage workers are in their prime earning years

77% of low wage workers are over the age of 20

78,500 (20.4%) are between 20 – 24 years old.

135,100 (35.2%) are between 25 – 44 years old.

82,100 (21.4%) are 45 years and older.

Regional data on Albertan workers making less than $15/hour is available for the following areas (click on a region to see the corresponding statistics):